Photo Essay: Unreal Antarctica
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Antarctica, my 7th continent. It goes without saying that it is an incredible place. I'll keep the words to a minimum here, but please don't be shy, and let me know what you think in the comments or any of the other ways you can track me down on here.
Antarctica. Like nowhere else.
Due to the density of ice vs water, only 1/9th of an iceberg is above water.
The darker blue ice is 'old ice' and perhaps thousands of years old.
Collecting pebbles to make a sweet nest and impress the ladies. High priority in the life of a penguin.
Recently hatched gentoo chicks, eating goo from the mother's mouth. Yum
A gentoo penguin tries to ward off a petrel from coming near the colony
The cycle of life continues on for a petrel or other predator, here at the expense of a penguin. Cue sad discovery channel music.
Shot at 11pm, the midnight sun in full effect.
Whale bones lying in a shallow bay, likely from the whaling in the area during the first few decades of the 20th century.
Snow blown sheer, leaving beautiful soft lines against blue skies and wispy clouds
Gentoo penguins set up home in a scene that reminds me of the monolith from Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey" What can we expect next from our future penguin overlords?
Blue ice, reflections in water that appears black, rocky mountains, and amazing skies. Antarctica.
Setting up camp on the rocks in an otherwise snowy white landscape. Notice the path used by penguins to get from one rocky area to another.
You would be upset as well if some people crapped on your back.
It goes without saying that this Chinstrap penguin is one of my favorite captures.
Thanks to everyone for their patience. I'll well behind on presenting my photos, but this is the 'tip of the iceberg' as they would say. Hah
I would love to hear what you think.
PS: If you're thirsting for more, you can check out some more photos shot this past season in Antarctic from fellow travel bloggers Trans Americas Journey and Brendan's Adventures.
This post was featured by Matt Long in his Picks of the Week feature.
January 12, 2011
Reader Comments (56)
Absolutely amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your photos. Now I want to go (okay, I wanted to go before I saw these photos but now I want to go even MORE).
OMG this is awesome! Please tell us more about your trip. Did you go there from Usuaia?
Really spectacular photos here. You captured the unreal and stunning feel for the place. We went last year in early March when the penguin babies were headed into the water - must have been neat to be there when they were younger and more of them around.
Wow. Absolutely stunning photos. The night sun- spectacular! Love the penguin shots. Especially the last one!
Fantastic Dustin! You've captured it very well. I also love the wildlife shots!
My favorite is the golden sun shot.
Now you'll HAVE to continue posting photos hahahahaha
Absolutely stunning. I have always wanted to you, and your photoessay rekindled the desire.
Wow, Antarctica is one of those places that seems make-believe. I hope I can see it one day but for now I'm really enjoying everyone else getting the chance to and seeing the results! Great shots!
I am extremely jealous, these pictures are beautiful :-) All of the Penguin shots are my favourite!
As my lady friend said - beautiful shots!
awesome pictures Dustin, bet your Mom loves them as well as the postcards she shares at work!
I am VERY impressed by the penguin with the pebble. See....it works.
Wow, I feel like I just attended a National Geographic Explorer lecture. Gorgeous photos, brilliant text accompanying each image. Thanks for sharing,.
Dustin they are fantastic. I feel like i'm there. Helena and I viewed the photos awsome job.
Brett
These truly are spectacular shots, what an adventure. Thank you for sharing! I especially love the glacial shots with the dark gray waters and the penguin/hawk battle where they look to be floating in mid air.
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! And so glad to see from the captions that you don't take yourself too seriously (it would be easy to with all these amazing shots!). Very happy to have found your site!
Sorry, no nested comments yet w/ Squarespace (come on already!)
@Sally Just go! Like now.
@Magda Let from Ushuaia. Took about 40hrs to cross the Drake Passage each way. After we got back, spent xmas in Ushuaia before flying out.
@Audrey Thanks! It was mostly just eggs, only a few chicks. All the animals were pretty lively though!
@Mica I'm especially proud of that last shot. It was one of the first shots I took on the first day, and I studied their behavior to try and shoot another. Unfortunately it was all near misses, until a film I shot in my last minutes there... Stay tuned!
@Dan Thanks Dan! Means a lot coming from you. Feels good to put some stuff up, and makes me want to share more. I essentially have 14 months of photos that haven't really been shared (yet...)
@Roxanne Just go! What are you waiting for?? :)
@Annie It really is like this. The colors, the skies, the mountains, and the inhabitants. It's like nowhere else I've been.
@Kirsty & Poi Thanks! More penguin shots to come!
@Brenda Yes she is pretty happy to see some photos. She's already requested the images so she can print them and show them off at work!
@Sue Dale can probably tell you about a particular penguin we were watching, and his fruitless battle to impress his mate with his rock piling skills. Glad you liked them.
@Brett Thanks Brett! More where that came from, even some of Dale's perhaps.
@Alex Thanks Alex, it was a great time, and I hope to go back. The penguin/hawk is a big crop from the original, and even though it's not as sharp as I would like, I think it was still worth it for the story. I could shoot landscapes there 24/7
@Katrina Glad you liked the the pics and captions. I'm trying to let loose here a bit and let my personality show through instead of being all super serious. Honestly, who is excited as I am when I get an action shot of a penguin going #2? Hope I don't let you down from here, all this positive feedback is setting the bar far too high! :)
These are absolutely stunning Dustin! Seriously! Everyone should see this! And I am SUPER jealous that you got to go to Antarctica! :-P
Serious awesomeness going on here! ;-)
Freakin' AMAZING! So jealous!
Wonderful shots Dustin. Antarctica really is a magical place and you captured it in these photos. Love the midnight sun photo!
Wow mate, absolutely stunning shots.
WHOA. Amazing shots. What a great experience! Love your site!
These are fantastic!
Gorgeous pictures! I love those of the penguins fighting/squabbling together.
having just come back from antarctica myself and I pin point exactly where all of these pictures come from. Great shots dustin! Very well done
I have tears in my eyes these are so insanely beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These photos are fantastic - Antarctica looks beautiful.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Not much more to say.
These are remarkable. Antarctica certainly looks other-worldly.
Incredible pics. Truly...
Fantastic pictures. Especially love the ones of the cute penguins.
@Dave Thanks! I have a few more from that 'midnight sun' that will make an appearance around here soon.
Thanks for all the positive comments everyone. They're motivating me to get to some of my other photos I've shot over the last 14 months up and start sharing them here.
these are great photos
well, I can't add anything more than others have -- truly great shots. Great.
Seriously took my breathe away. Dustin, such brilliant shots! I'm planning to go to Antarctica with Gap Adventures this October, overwhelmed to see your pictures. Cant wait to visit!
Phenomenal pictures! I love the beauty of barren landscapes. They know you don't need a bunch of stupid trees to make an impression.
Gotta go practice my nest-building tactics, so I'll be in good graces with the penguin overlords.
Aly
bee-autiful photos! and congrats on reaching your 7th continent!
@Nellie I hope you are still able to go! I went with GAP Adventures and I really enjoyed it.
@Aly Apparently it's all about picking the right stones, they were really picky :)
@Tran Thanks! It only took me 30 odd years!
Awesome photographs. Thanks very much for sharing. Would be really interested to know what equipment you shot these with and if you edited them later and if so, what programs you used.
Very nice work. But I am sure it the pictures in your head that made the trip worth it. When I get to a computer I will be checking to see if you sell these. I think the first two would look nice in my home office.
@Robin I shoot with a Nikon D90, and shot these with a Nikkor 18-200mm 3,5-5.6 w/ circ polarizer and a Tokina 11-16 2.8. I do my post in Adobe Lightroom, though admittedly, these didn't need much more than minor changes in curves or a crop.
@Scott I've been getting a lot of e-mails about prints, and I'll be adding photo sales very soon I hope. I'm sure they would look great in your office :)
These are incredible shots. I can't wait to go here someday. :)
You've taken some phenomenal pictures of Antartica! What a neat place to travel to!
Seriously beautiful photos!!! The penguins are adorable and the glaciers look majestic :)
Hey D:
c'mon eh, the wrold can't be "that" big....I thought you'd be back by now. I was taught in high school that theres only 4 continents in the entire world, North America, Central America and South America and Disneyland....What's this whole "seventh continent thing"....you sound as absurd as that Columbus nut with the whole "ya the world is round crap". Just for the record SASKATCHEWAN is STILL flat.
Mind Blowing images!! No Words to say.... Wat a great beauty we have in the Universe....
Absolutely perfect photos. Nice shoots!
And good idea to put in the frame.
This reminds me of my trip in 2004, something I will never forget. These photos are much better than mine, but I have some video on my website
The photos are so bloody stunning!!!
Stunning photos, I am completely in awe.
WOW!
Bet you didn;t have those skinny backpacker legs on show out there (when we last saw you in Cambodia we were priviledged to witness those beauts!!) These are awesome images - what a stunning place- words don't do justice to the photos and photos -even excellent ones like this- generally do justice to the experience. Lucky man!
Take care
Simon and Jo Wood xx (from Mother Home Guest House, Siem Reap- Jul 10)